Dan Daly is an American film actor who won the Golden Globe for the lead role in the sitcom The Governor and JJ. In addition, in the forties, he was nominated for an Oscar. In total, his filmography includes about 60 roles in Hollywood cinema and on TV.
Childhood and youth
Dan Daly was born in 1915 in New York, his father's name was James and his mother was Helen Daly. He began performing on stage as a child - in 1921.
For a long time Dan played in vaudeville fashionable then in the USA. However, it is worth noting that in his youth he tried himself in other professions - he worked as a caddy (as they call assistants to golfers who are involved, in particular, carrying clubs), a shoe salesman and even a steward on a cruise ship.
Be that as it may, in the end it was acting that became his main occupation. In 1937, Daley made his Broadway debut in Babes in Arms.
Daly's career in the forties
In 1940, Dan Daly was noticed by the MGM film studio and offered him a contract. The first film in which he took part was called "Mortal Storm" (1940). In this drama, he played a Nazi.
However, in the future, MGM offered him roles in light and funny musical films. In total, from 1940 to 1942, Daly starred in 20 film musicals. Among them, for example, "Lady, Be Better" (1941), "Escape" (1941), "Girls of Siegfield" (1941).
Daley's last film for MGM was Panama Hattie (1942). The film was a box office hit, and it was clear that Daly's career was on the rise. However, in the same 1942, he was drafted into the army, which is why he was forced to leave the acting profession for a while.
During the war years he was able to rise to the rank of captain. And after returning, in the second half of the forties, he signed a contract with another major studio - 20th Century Fox, and continued to act in Hollywood.
His first post-war film was Mother Weared Lights, in which Daly was paired with Betty Grable, one of the most famous actresses of the time, as the lead actor. Mom Wore Tights eventually became 20th Century Fox's most successful film of 1947, earning $ 5 million at the box office. Subsequently, Dan Daly starred with Betty Grable several more times.
In 1948, Dan Daly took part in When My Baby Smiles at Me, where he played the aging vaudeville actor Skid Johnson, who once gets a role on Broadway, which leads to a certain breakdown in his relationship with his wife. This role allowed Daly to be nominated for an Oscar. But his rival that year was Laurence Olivier himself, and it was he who was eventually awarded the statuette - for the main role in the classic film "Hamlet".
Further work of the actor
In the fifties, Daly also had a number of interesting film jobs. As an example, it is worth mentioning such films with his participation as "When Willie Came Home" (1950), "Ticket to the Tomahawk" (1950), "What is the Price of Fame" (1952), "There is no such business as show business. "(1954). Interestingly, in the last film listed, his co-star was Marilyn Monroe.
In 1957, he starred in John Ford's dramatic film Wings of the Eagles. This film tells about the pilot, and then the writer John Weed, who made a great contribution to the development of American military aviation. Here he plays a friend of Weed Carson. When Weed was paralyzed, it was Carson, as shown in this picture, who invited him to write.
In the late fifties, the actor switched to television (this was largely due to the fact that the era of movie musicals in Hollywood had almost come to an end) and began to appear frequently in TV series. For example, he could be seen in such multi-part projects as "Only Four Men" (1959), "The Untouchables" (1959-1963), "The Hour of Alfred Hitchcock" (1962-1965).
In addition, in the sixties he returned to the theater stage and was involved in performances such as "Plaza Hotel Room" and "Strange Couple".
Particularly successful was the role of Dan Daly in the sitcom "The Governor and JJ" (1969-1970) - for her he received a Golden Globe in the corresponding nomination. Actually, Daly played here just the governor (according to the plot, his name was William Drinkwater). And the main conflict of the series is the conflict between the very conservative William and his daughter Jennifer Joe, who adheres to liberal views.
The actor's last work on TV was the role of Clyde Tolson in the television biopic "John Edgar Hoover's Personal Dossier" in 1977.
Personal life
Dan Daly has been married four times, and all of his marriages have ended in divorce. His first wife was Esther Clare Rodier. It is known that he met her during his school years. They lived together for five years - from 1936 to 1941.
The second wife of the actor is Jane Elizabeth Hofert, a socialite. Dan married her in 1942. They divorced nine years later - in 1951. From this marriage, Daly had a son, Dan Daly Jr. His fate was tragic - in 1975 he committed suicide.
The third wife of the actor was the former actress Gwen Carter. This marriage lasted from 1955 to 1962.
Dancer Carol Warner became Dan Daley's last wife in 1968. This marriage ended in divorce in 1972.
Circumstances of death
In the fall of 1977, while performing in The Strange Couple in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Dan Daly broke his hip, causing him to be confined to a wheelchair and developing anemia.
And the next fall, October 16, 1978, the actor died. The cause of death was a heart attack, which was caused by complications after hip replacement surgery
They buried Dan Daly at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale, a northern suburb of Los Angeles.
